Clute Institute: Journals
Not a member yet
9714 research outputs found
Sort by
Luxury Retail Environments And Changing Masculine Sociocultural Norms
Get PDFThis article explores how luxury brands communicate with male shoppers through their retail environments in the context of changing sociocultural definitions of masculinity. While Bain and Company (2012) speak of the ‘masculinization of the luxury market’, consumer research has paid little attention to men and masculinity (Otnes and Tuncay-Zayer, 2012). Most previous studies have tackled male representations in advertising and the tensions felt by male shoppers. This article extends this limited body of knowledge to retailing issues. It compares masculine archetypes with the discursive strategies used by retailers to target new male consumers. Using a semiotic square analysis the author reveals five masculine archetypes emphasized by luxury brands in their retail environments and discusses their implications. The findings show that most brands rely on traditional utilitarian representations of masculinity in stores, missing opportunities to renew their communication to take advantage of changing masculine values
A South African Study Of Influence Of Fairness Of Human Resource Management Practices On Service Quality
Get PDFThis paper deals with the problem of poor service delivery in municipalities across South Africa – a problem that seems to elude a lasting solution. It assesses the extent to which perceived fairness in human resource management (HRM) practices affect service quality of selected municipalities in South Africa. Falling on organizational justice theory, it is posited that the HRM practices of municipalities could explain the poor service being delivered by municipalities in South Africa. Quantitative data collected from employees of nine randomly selected municipalities in the Free State Province was used to create indices for employee fairness perceptions of HRM practices as well as service quality as perceived by customers. From regression analysis, the results indicate that: employees perceive HRM practices as unfair; service delivery does not meet citizens’ expectations; and, statistically speaking, quality of service delivery is significantly and positively related to perceived fairness in HRM practices namely compensation (distributive); recruitment and Selection (procedural); and promotion (procedural) at the .05 and .01 levels of significance – meaning that fair HRM practices are important for quality service delivery
The Value Of Information Sharing In Capacity Allocation In Serial Service Operations
Get PDFIn this study, we investigate the value of information sharing in serial service operations. When services are offered sequentially in two stages, we may use the demand information from the previous period in assigning servers at each stage. This study compares an information-based policy with a basic policy for capacity allocation in serial service operations in order to explore the value of information shared between the two stages. Among several possible candidates for an information-based policy, we chose an assigning rule such that the number of servers at the latter stage is determined by the number of customers served out of the prior stage in the previous period. On the other hand, the basic policy is designated as an assigning rule such that the two stages have the same constant number of servers through all periods. Assuming independent and identically distributed Normal demands with various parameters, we conducted computational experiments to compute the cost savings from using the information-based policy over the basic policy. The cost of using each policy includes the labor cost and the waiting cost. The results show that the cost savings of information sharing are relatively low and that the value of information sharing increases with demand variability or with unit waiting cost. These results give us some managerial insights on capacity allocation in serial service operations.
The Value Of Item Response Theory In Invariance Testing
Get PDFThe goal of the current study was to assess the Employee Engagement Instrument (EEI) from an item response theory (IRT) perspective, with a specific focus on measurement invariance for annual turnover. The sample comprised 4 099 respondents from all business sectors in South Africa. This article describes the logic and procedures used to test for factorial invariance across groups in the context of construct validation. The procedures included testing for configural and metric invariance in the framework of multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).The results confirmed the factor analytic structure of the model fit for some of the individual scales of the EEI. The measurement invariance of the EEI as a function of annual turnover was confirmed. However, the results indicated that the EEI needs to be refined for future research
Corporate Governance, Investment And Business Growth
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to bridge the gap between theory and corporate governance practices in selected emerging and developed economies, and assess its impact on corporate growth and productivity. Our investigation yields a negative relationship between corporate governance and investment levels and GDP growth in these countries
The Effect Of Ethical Culture Leadership Qualities, Entrepreneurship And Innovation On The Performance Of Government Linked Companies
Get PDFGovernment-linked companies (GLCs) play an essential role in the expansion of the Malaysian economy. GLCs are contributing a significant percentage of the nation’s gross capital formation and National Gross Domestic Product and they have been regarded as instruments of national growth and supplementing government’s effort in promoting social and economic goals. Nevertheless, the performance of GLCs remains as a major concern. Although many research have been done on organisations and enterprises there is lack of research done on GLCs’ performance. Previously, the performance of GLCs in Malaysia has been affected by the poor performance of its key companies such as Proton Holdings Berhad and Malaysia Airline System (MAS). Hence, this study attempts to examine on the effect of ethical culture practices, leadership qualities, entrepreneurship orientation, and innovation existence towards the performance of Malaysian GLCs. In this study, the data is gathered via questionnaires survey collected from 102 state and federal level GLCs. The results of coefficient of independent variables showed that leadership qualities and innovation are positively correlated with organisational performance. This study suggests to improve the performance of GLCs through emphasizing on leadership qualities and placing high emphasis on innovation
The Effect Of Earnings Per Share Categories On Share Price Behavior: Some South African Evidence
Get PDFEarnings per share (EPS) is considered as an important accounting indicator of risk, entity performance and corporate success. It is used to forecast potential growth in future share prices, because changes in EPS are often reflected in share price behaviour. Companies listed on the Johannesburg Share Exchange (JSE) are required to publish three different categories of EPS: basic, diluted and headline EPS. It has become apparent that there is no indication as to which category explains share price behaviour best. The study therefore aimed to determine which category of EPS is best associated with share prices of the top 40 JSE listed companies in South Africa. No South African studies have previously attempted to answer this question. The top 40 JSE listed companies were selected as the research sample and the relationship between different categories of EPS and share prices was analysed empirically for the period 2005 to 2013. This study demonstrated that basic EPS correlated best with the changing behaviour of share prices. Furthermore, the study established that headline EPS proved to deliver lower correlation coefficients than other EPS categories. Based on the findings of this study some useful recommendations and areas for further research were also identified
Information Asymmetry And The Role Of Foreign Investors In Daily Transactions During The Crisis; A Study Of Herding In The Indonesian Stock Exchange
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to prove that there was herding behavior by domestic investors following that of foreign investors in the Indonesian Capital Market (IDX) and that the herding was influenced by information asymmetry. It began when global investors undertook international diversification to the IDX because the returns on their portfolios were not on the efficient frontier during the crisis and because of the low correlation between Indonesia’s economy and the American and European economies. Utilizing the IDX daily transaction data during the years 2009-2011, the herding behavior of domestic investors, which followed that of foreign investors, was tested by Lakonishok models as was the influence of information asymmetry on the herding. It was found that the herding behavior in the IDX occurred in buy, sell or entire herdings (buy and sell). There were 0.40 to 0.55 buy herdings and 0.20 to 0.40 sell herdings during the crisis in 2008 and 2009. Buy herding then continued in 2010 onwards, although with lower intensity (0.05 to 0.20); however, sell herding decreased dramatically, and there has been almost no sell herding since then. Nevertheless, domestic investors did then sell in the opposite strategy, which was to sell when foreign investors tended to buy. Subsequent findings demonstrated that herding occurred with the influence of information asymmetry between domestic and foreign investors
Student Usage And Perceptions Of The Value Of Recorded Lectures In A Traditional Face-To-Face (F2F) Class
Get PDFMore than ever before, today’s colleges and universities are employing innovative and mutually-beneficial ways to meet the needs of students. Due to increasing competition and changing demographics, institutions benefit from attracting more students as higher enrollments generate greater revenue; these additional tuition and fees are crucial as costs continue to rise and state funding declines. Alternative course delivery modalities provide flexibility that can enable more students to obtain access to a postsecondary education as well as appeal to those with different learning styles or who are looking for a less traditional college experience. In recent years, online programs have grown significantly when compared to the traditional face-to-face (F2F) environment. While both deliveries have their own advantages and thus supporters, each has its own disadvantages as well. As a result, blended or hybrid classes, which include features of both F2F and distance courses, are becoming more common. This article describes a study in which two sections of an F2F tax course offered students access to recorded lectures, and reports the results of a survey designed to ascertain student usage and perceptions of the value of this supplemental material.
Integrating Academic Journal Review Assignments Into A Graduate Business Leadership Course
Get PDFGraduate course assignments that are pragmatic, challenging, scaffold prior learning, and support academic career aspirations can be difficult to create and even more problematic to assess for even the most experienced faculty. This paper presents a class assignment that incorporated a real-world journal reviewing assignment into an elective doctoral leadership seminar. This manuscript presents an overview of the assignment, journal editor perceptions of the experience, and recommendations for best practices